


coming home

by bananas



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Interview Fic, Light Angst, M/M, New Beginnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 06:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16928013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananas/pseuds/bananas
Summary: An interview with Alastair Cook after England’s tour of Sri Lanka 2014 right before he got sacked as captain.What he said vs What he thought





	coming home

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this fic in my drafts for about over a year now so I think it's time I post it lol
> 
> The layout for the fic is a little confusing but I've tried to keep it as easy to understand as I can.
> 
> questions asked are in bold, answers are normal and Alastair's thoughts are _italicized_
> 
> I only briefly skimmed this and I did write this a long time ago so it might have mistakes, sorry about that. hope you all still like it. happy reading x

**Q. England have just lost the ODI series 5-2 to Sri Lanka. Many people have expressed the opinion that the failure of the team lies in the lack of firepower in their batting lineup and the failure of their bowlers to take wickets. What is your response to this and will this loss call for changes to be made to the ODI lineup ahead of the World Cup next year?**

 

 

 

Ans. (nods and begins) Well, yeah, this tour’s definitely given us a lot to think about. It’s brought to light some serious problems we have in our lineup and we will definitely look to solve these issues before the World Cup.

 

_(Text message exchange_

_Alastair Cook to James Anderson: Lost the series. They’re going to sack me for sure now._

_James Anderson to Alastair Cook: Call me._

_“What did they say?” (He sounded rapt, alert, awake.)_

_“What did who say?” (He sounded tired, exhausted and years older than he was.)_

_“Management, the ECB, anyone. How do you know you’re getting sacked?”_

_(A short laugh.) “What do you mean how do I know? It’s obvious isn’t it? They’ve been talking about it for months now and with the colossal mess that this tour has been, it’s finally going to happen.”_

_(A sigh.) “Ali, the tour wasn’t your fault. You can put all the blame on yourself. The press, the media, they’re all going to make you the easy target but you have to remember it’s not on you.”_

_“Yeah? Then who’s it on Jimmy? Who’s to blame here, if not the captain who keeps failing his team?”_

_“You haven’t failed your team Alastair. It’s a rough patch. Everyone goes through one.”_

_“Yeah and then they get dropped.” (Pause.) “It’s fine anyway. I’ll focus on tests then. Unless they drop me from that squad as well.”_

_“Ali you know they won’t do that.”_

_“Do I? Anyway, I have to go. I have a meeting with the coaches and the team soon.”_

_“Um, okay sure. I’ll talk to you later yeah? We’ll skype if you want.”_

_“Yeah I’ll see. Don’t know how long this meeting will run.”_

_“Yeah, sure. Text me. Love you.”_

_“Yeah love you too. Bye.”)_

 

 -

 

**Q. There are a lot of rumours circulating around as to whether James Anderson’s recent knee injury that led to him to be excluded from the tour was caused by overexertion or if the fast bowling is taking a toll on his body, given the number of years he’s been playing for. Do you know what caused his injury and if there’s any truth to these rumours?**

Ans. (raised eyebrows) Well I think it’s just a regular, knee injury, nothing special. Every fast bowler gets injuries from time to time, it’s not unheard of. (clears throat) As for how he got the injury, all we've heard is that he got it during bowling practice with his county cricket team. (pause) And I'm- I'm sure he’ll bounce back strongly from this, he always does. It’s frustrating for him, I’m sure, but he’ll be working hard and he’ll be back really soon.  

 

_(“Jimmy, will you please get down from the ladder and stop acting like such a child? You’re going to hurt yourself.”_

_“I got this Ali, it’ll just take a minute.”_

_“We could just call an electrician for this. You don’t have to do this.”_

_“Ali I can change the bulb myself. Do I ask you to call a farm hand every time you go milk a cow or feed the chickens?”_

_“Jimmy do you realize that I’m a farmer? It’s literally in my job description to do all that. You, on the other hand, aren’t an electrician and have never changed a bulb before.”_

_“Ok whatever. Hold the ladder steady now; it keeps shaking. I’m almost done.”_

_“Oh for God’s sake, Jimmy!”_

_“Ok I’m done. Now I’ve just got to get down.”_

_-_

_“Just say it.”_

_“Say what?”_

_“That you told me so and that you knew this was going to happen.”_

_“Actually, I didn’t know this was going to happen I just thought it was a possibility.”_

_“Yeah well, Trevor’s going to kill me now. I’m pretty sure I’ve completely messed my knee up with this fall.”_

_“The doctor said it wasn’t a major injury. It was just hurting a lot because you’ve injured the same knee before. And he said if you get proper therapy for it it’ll be fixed in no time.”_

_“Hmmph.”_

_“Jimmy, don’t pout. It’s fine.”_

_“No it’s not fine Alastair. I’ll be missing the Sri Lanka tour because of this and it’s one of the few games we have left before the tri-series against the Aussies and the World Cup.”_

_“You don’t know whether you’ll miss the tour just yet.  We’re going to have to see the results.”_

_“The tour’s in 2 days. And I’m not stupid; I heard you talking to the doctor about the recovery time and he said 3 weeks. Stop treating me like a child Alastair.”_

_-_

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“Sorry for what?”_

_“Snapping at you earlier. It’s not your fault. You told me not to get on the ladder. I should’ve listened.”_

_“No Jimmy it’s fine.”_

_“No Ali, let me apologize. You didn’t deserve it. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m sorry.”_

_“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Come on inside now.”)_

 

-

 

**Q. England were missing their star bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad during this series, both out due to a knee injuries. Had they been included, do you think the series would’ve gone differently?**

Ans. Well, there’s not really a question of “what if” here because they were both obviously unable to play. The team that was brought out here to Sri Lanka was the best, fittest team as decided by the selection committee. Jimmy and Stu are two of our most talented bowlers but they were unavailable so we can’t really predict what could have happened. It’s best to dwell on the reality of the situation and work with what we’ve got rather than wonder what would happen if things were different.

 

_(Alastair had been quieter and quieter towards the end of his break before the tour to Sri Lanka and Jimmy, who had been noticing this for days now, hadn’t confronted him about it just yet. The night before Alastair was due to leave for the tour, Jimmy finally broke the silence as they sat at the dinner table, “Ali?”_

_Alastair looked up briefly before turning his head back down and continued to shift his food around his plate with his fork._

_“What’s wrong, Ali?”_

_Alastair looked up briefly again and answered monotonously, “Nothing.”_

_Jimmy sighed but pressed further, “Something’s obviously wrong. You’ve been off for the past few days. Are you worried about the tour?”_

_Alastair met his gaze again, an unfamiliar_

_“Of course I’m worried about the tour Jimmy! My two top bowlers have just gone and injured themselves leaving me with a weaker, inexperienced pace attack and I can’t even blame Stu because he’s had that knee problem and the surgery but you-” he paused, taking a deep breath as if to steady himself. He continued with a hard, accusing glare, “You just had to go and change that stupid bulb and hurt your knee didn’t you?”_

_Alastair’s sudden outburst shocked Jimmy who could only manage, “But I apologized and you said it was okay!” under Alastair’s glare._

_“No. You apologized to your boyfriend who had warned you this would happen, your boyfriend who only forgave you because he saw how much pain you were in and that you’d learnt your lesson. You never apologized to your captain who needed you for this tour.” Alastair paused then, a soft expression on his face. “I needed you for this tour. I needed the one person who I can trust in the whole world, who always tells me where I lack, how I can improve with full honesty to be by my side through this. Sri Lanka isn’t going to be an easy tour and with the World Cup coming up, you know how much pressure is on us, how much pressure’s on me. I needed you to be with me on this tour.”_

_Jimmy down at his dinner not daring to look at Alastair’s his broken, almost-pleading expression. He didn’t like feeling guilty but he didn’t like upsetting Alastair even more. He had just wanted to help him out on the farm for once. Alastair always did all the work around the farm and Jimmy, who at first was content with watching Alastair work, watching his biceps strain underneath his white t shirt and him sweat because of physical exertion every day, soon began to feel guilty for not contributing and decided to change the fused bulb in the hallway that Alastair kept forgetting to change so he could be useful for once._

_Jimmy lifted his gaze from the table. “I know how careless and reckless and stupid it was. You have no idea how much I regret it. Don’t you think I want to go on this tour with you?” Jimmy’s voice wasn’t angry or irritated; it was just exhausted._

_“It’s not just the tour you’ll be missing. We won’t see each other till Christmas now.” He paused. “It’ll be weird without you. I’ll miss you.”_

_Jimmy looked almost pained now, “I’ll miss you too Ali. We’ll see each other soon though and we’ll Skype, yeah?”_

_Alastair nodded in reply and ducked his head down again and continued to eat his now-cold dinner, signaling the end of the conversation.)_

 

_-_

 

**Q. There have been concerns raised recently about your captaincy and England’s chances ahead of the World Cup. After a dismal performance in this series on the batting front and your 2, arguably, best bowlers, Stuart Broad and James Anderson both out with knee injuries, do you think England have a shot at bringing the Cup home?**

 

Ans. Well, I don’t see why not. We have very talented players in our lineup and back home.  Like I said before, this tour’s given the selection committee a lot to think about in terms of batting and bowling units. It hasn’t been a our best performance here and with the Cup fast approaching we’ll be working very hard to improve and be ready in time for it. We have a packed schedule ahead of us and we’re hoping to get some good cricketing performances in before we go off the Australia. As for Jimmy and Stu’s injuries, there’s still a long while before the Cup and I know they’re both going to be working hard with the doctors and physiotherapists to be fit before it.

_(He ignored the question about his captaincy even though he knew what was coming for him. No one had told him yet but he saw it in the looks exchanged between management members during their meetings and the hushed conversations he wasn’t meant to see taking place. It was best to stay quiet on it until the news broke so he could bear the brunt of it then. The humiliation of being sacked could wait till they decided to release the news themselves.)_

 

-

 

**Q. What keeps you steady during times like these? I can’t imagine the past few months have been easy on you so what keeps you going, keeps you moving forward and not giving up?**

Ans. Well, I think, um, (clears throat) it’s always important to remember that it does get better I suppose. You have to keep trying harder. Giving up, admitting defeat is never really an option. It’s also important, I think, to always have someone by your side to reassure you. Self-doubt can be very fatal and I know for a fact that if I didn’t have my, um, - if I didn’t have someone by my side I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have, especially in the past few years.

_(For once, he’s said what he really thinks. Jimmy was one of the main reasons Alastair had managed not to lose his cool even though every time he’d told him this or anything like it, Jimmy vehemently denied it and said it was all Alastair. Jimmy kept him sane and brought out the best in him. He was there for when Ali needed advice, support or just a nod of agreement in the team meetings. He was there when the newspapers slandered him and the critics questioned his every move. He was there when his friend(s) turned against him and criticized him publicly, openly and without hesitance. He was there for him through every step of the long, tiring journey as ODI captain and even though, at times, the press hadn’t been easy on Jimmy as well, he’d weathered the storm for both of them throughout.)_

 

**Q. Now, on a lighter note: you’ve been on tour for a while now Alastair. What have you missed most about home while you’ve been away?**

Ans. (small smile, ducks head and then replies) My farm definitely. I have someone I trust taking good care of it back home but I still miss it.

_(Once upon a time, that answer might have been true, but now it was more the man who was taking care of the farm in his absence than the farm itself. He missed Jimmy. He missed his laugh and his smile and his witty, dry humour. He missed the easy conversation and the banter. He missed how he always knew what Alastair was feeling and always knew how to make him feel better. He missed how he called him Ali when they spoke normally and Chef when he was teasing him and Alastair when they were in bed. He missed his voice in the morning and his grumpy expression when the rooster woke him up at the crack of dawn. He missed walks around the fields with him every day, even when it was drizzling. He missed Jimmy’s complaints about how rough and frizzy the rain would make his hair but then he would still go on the walks with him because he knew how much Alastair loved them. He missed Jimmy’s smile when the sun came out again and how his hair sparkled in the sun, wet with droplets from the light rain. He missed Jimmy because Jimmy, in all his grumpy, sarcastic glory, was his home.)_

 

(Text message exchange 

Alastair Cook to James Anderson: On my way to the airport now. Sorry I couldn’t skype last night, was too knackered after the interview. Found out after I’m getting sacked as ODI captain but it’s for the best I think. I hope. Sorry I was rude to you last night. Miss you so much. Can’t wait to see you back home. It’s been a long 4 weeks. I love you always

James Anderson to Alastair Cook: It’s ok. Text me when you’ve checked in and call in the departure lounge if you can? Miss you too and love you always. Have a safe flight. See you soon)

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank u reading!! if u wanna come say hi you know where to find me :)


End file.
